Mnemoidian

@Sarge506: I agree, and I especially agree that if it is Big Boss (which I'm leaning towards), then it's really problematic that he's so greyhaired, considering that Kojima went out of his way to provide additional material for us to see that Big Boss isn't greying in Ground Zeroes (ie: your avatar).

I've been pretty sold on it being Big Boss, but having just recently rewatched...

I'm wavering a bit. On the other hand, at that point we've seen advanced cybernetics, cloning and limbs fully transplanted, so who's to say what's possible by then.

As for location... I was going to bring up the map, as I'd seen people speculating about South Africa, but seeing @Sarge506 mention Cyprus, 3-prong power outlets and @MooseyMcMan talking about left-hand traffic. Turns out... all these things are true in Cyprus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#BS_1363 Cyprus and the UK uses the same Power Plug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Jurisdictions_with_left-hand_traffic Cyprus has left-hand traffic.

Also, Cyprus was leased to the United Kingdom 'till 1960, which explains the flag in the hospital... so Cyprus is looking pretty good right now :)

I'm still trying to piece together the timeframe. The Psycho Mantis child-lookalike suggests we're talking about a chronological prequel to Metal Gear Solid (by 10-20 years, I'd guess?), though it could certainly be just a lookalike. More interestingly, I've seen some in-depth comparisons between the gear used by the soldiers attacking the Hospital and the gear worn by the XOF unit in the Ground Zeroes... which we know a lot more about when that takes place (because Chico is still a kid, if nothing else), as it seems to be taking place shortly after Peace Walker in 1974... of course, that's not a great dating mechanism, especially as I don't know how often a military unit typically replaces their gear :P

I find the straight speedometer in the car (carcrash scene) to be quite interesting, but I can't find any good articles about when those fell out of style...

Looks an aweful lot like Naked Snake/Big Boss...

(See below for images of the "family".)

Obviously, seeing how MGS2 is a PS2 game, it's not as easy to compare, but I'd say that our Phantom Pain-subject is a lot more similar to Big Boss, than he is to Solidus. There's also the matter of Solidus' increased aging, and us not being entirely sure which decade Phantom Pain is set in, what with there being what looks like a child-version of Psycho Mantis appearing in it, the straight spedometer in the car, the soldiers wearing the exact same gear as the soldiers in the Ground Zeroes trailer (which we know a lot more about the timing of!)... etc.

I'm not saying I know what's up with it, but I think it's a lot more likely that we're looking at Big Boss than Solidus Snake. Also, looking at Old Snake's appearance, you can see that the clones don't age identically to Big Boss, Old Snake looks different enough that it's easily possible to tell them apart, even if Big Boss didn't have the eyepatch. Also, some people have pointed out that Phantom Pain-guy has a scar on his cheek that is very similar to the one found on Big Boss' cheek... though that tends to use the mirrored image as reference, which is... problematic.

See here: Phantom Pain (???), Ground Zeroes (Big Boss), MGS4 (Big Boss), Peace Walker (Big Boss) MGS2 (Solidus), MGS4 (Old Snake), MGS1 (Liquid Snake).

@studnoth1n said:

@Mnemoidian: Well I haven't played those other games, so maybe it only seems disproportionate. Also, just because one game is worse the another doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with that other game. There's greater amount of nuance to these problems, and discussion, than most people are willing to give credit.

You still haven't (as far as I can tell) mentioned a single detail about the multiplayer that is so horrible that it's ruining the value of the product for you. I agree that throwaway multiplayer components aren't a good thing, but I don't think this is a throwaway component.

And I didn't say the other shooters released in November are bad.

*shrug* Carry on raging, I guess?

FWIW; you can handle all the DLC for ME3 directly from Origin, no need to install seperate packs anymore.

Not sure if they've added the ME2 DLC to Origin, but I did see some of the ME1 DLC (Pinnacle station?) in Origin the other day (when looking for Omega/Leviathan, which I didn't find at the time (but did later) :P)

Not impossible that it'll get a discount, but I wouldn't count on it.

Then again, you can find the game in brick and mortar stores (in Sweden) from about € 30 (Insane Edition at € 50). It's not a Steamworks game, so you won't be able to register it on Steam, but if the price is critical to you, that might be worth checking out.

Put about 2 hours into it last night. I still don't see what the problem is, other than the lack of people/some laggy people ruining it for everyone.

It's not like it's worse than the other big shooters that has been released in November. Bit less polished than Call of Duty, but what do you expect? They've had almost a dozen iterations to learn from.

ps: saying "it's still shit" is not describing what's wrong with it. It's fine that you don't like it, but ... uh, why? If you care enough to make a thread, mabe describe what makes it bad? :P

Male/Female is down to 3 things I guess: 1) Do you prefer a female or male protagonist? 2) Jennifer Hale does FemShep's voice, Mark Meer does BroShep's voice. 3) Depending on your gender selection, different love interests will be available to you.

Not a fan of Custom Shepards, especially with teh disonance you may feel watchig marketing and other footage of other people's Shepard. (though, I can see why you would want to play a Custom Shepard, certainly much more "yours").

Unfortunately, classes changed a lot between ME1 and ME2, and I don't exactly remember how they played in the first game. Overall, playing a Soldier makes the games act much more like Shooters though. Adepts can be a lot of fun in ME3, once you figure out combos/biotic explosions.

... and don't care too much about what anyone says on here, just start the game and play as you want to. You don't really need to know anything. You're just running the risk of spoiling the experience for yourself!

Yeah, I'd play them in the order they were released (subsituting in the HD versions where available), not in chronological order of events in the games. Evolution of mechanics and controls will probably trip you up if you jump around too much, really! Also, don't forget to play Peacewalker. It's quite a lot different (has you gathering a team, etc), but it has a lot of interesting additions to the overarching plot. It fits into the story after Metal Gear Solid 4. Portable Ops is optional.

I would not suggest you hammer them out in a marathon as I know that they take quite a lot out of me when I play them, I would hate to miss any of the insanely nuanced parts of the game. Play one game, take a break for a brief while (play something else?) and come back ready for more crazy :)

The first game might be a bit hard to stomach due to the age of the mechanics, but I think it'd be worth it, if you can.

@thabigred said:

I don't feel like making another thread so I'll just ask here.

When they say "TA-TOW" they are referring to the tattoo correct? If not how is this spelled?

You are looking for "tatau" - see wikipedia (possibly NSFW?) for more information, or at least a part of what's most likely inspired the use of the word.